Adult Education Theory and Practice at the College Level Assignment

Adult Education Theory and Practice at the College Level - Assignment Example The rationale for these stereotypes is fully embedded. Nevertheless, to the extent that they have a major justification, it appears to fall roughly along the subsequent assumptions: adult learners do not have up to date formal education; as a result, they may lack the necessary study or learning skills. Consequently, they will have a tendency to use less useful techniques of learning in college. In addition, they may show heightened learning difficulties and deficits as an outcome of age-specific weaknesses in intellectual capacities. This paper aims to challenge all of these stereotypes about adult learners and come up with an appropriate approach to adult education at the college level. Adult Development: Cognitive and Intellectual Factors It is possible to develop a unifying model of intelligence that takes into consideration the factors of traditional process, but a broader range of cognitive factors, alongside areas of interest and personality. The below diagram illustrates one paradigm, referred to as PPIK- for ‘intelligence-as-process, personality, interest, and intelligence-as-knowledge’ (Smith & Pourchot, 1998, 151). According to Ackerman (1996), this paradigm merges these four roots of individual-differences variation to produce individual differences in stages of work-related and academic knowledge. This paradigm not merely describes a transition from process to knowledge, but describes as well the possible interconnection between knowledge acquisition and interests and personality. Figure 1. Ackerman’s PPIK diagram (Smith & Pourchot, 1998, 152) For adults, however, this paradigm presents a way for connecting traditional intelligence measures with correct intellectual skills and knowledge measures. Specifically, even though measures of traditional intelligence may somewhat explain adult learning, an appropriate evaluation of adult knowledge necessitates evaluation of adult intellect (Rubenson, 2011). Several knowledge components c an be sufficiently assessed using current rankings of occupational competence and college-level proficiency, yet these rankings only start to recognize adult intelligence (Ackerman, 1996). Nevertheless, by employing an integrated assessment method that allows for traditionally evaluated interests, personality, and intellect, a more inclusive assessment of adult intelligence could be achievable. Furthermore, one can also integrate features of motivational abilities into the developmental paradigm (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007) since they affect the relationship between knowledge acquisition and interest. There are three particular uses of intellectual evaluation for the purposes of adult education, that is, selection, categorization, and teaching. The PPIK model proposes a number of capable uses all over these three application domains. Selection. The PPIK model of adult intelligence, to begin with, indicates that assessment of adult academic achievement will be enhanced when evaluations are performed on individual differences in important knowledge components, instead of the conventional college admission tests. Because of knowledge acquisition’s developmental evolution, according to Smith and Pourchot (1998), older adults may be predicted to score higher than younger adults on intelligence exams, an outcome that is in agreement with the findings that older adults are predisposed to achieve higher in postsecondary classes than younger adults with the same scores on usual college admission exams, like the American College Testing (ACT). Categorization. The mission of locating the most favorable area of interest for adults going back to school